Gaia, Inc.

Gaia, Inc., formerly Gaiam, is an international alternative media video streaming service and online community focusing on fringe-science and yoga. Its brands include Gaiam TV which changed its name to Gaia in 2016.[1] As of 2018 it had >500,000 subscribers in over 185 countries.[2]

Gaia, Inc.
Public
Traded asNASDAQ: GAIA (Class A)
Russell 2000 Component
IndustryVideo production
Founded1988 (1988)
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.
FounderJirka Rysavy
Headquarters
Louisville, Colorado
,
United States
Websitewww.gaia.com

The site contains video and written articles on yoga, psychedelics and pseudoscience.[3][4] Hosted media topics focus on fringe theories, conspiracy theories, and alternative medicine.[5]

History

Early history

Gaiam was founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1988 by Jirka Rysavy.[6] His vision was to serve the "conscious consumer", a group subsequently named the "Cultural Creatives" by sociologist Paul Ray in 1996: educated consumers who make purchasing decisions based on their values.[7]

The company states that its name was the result of fusing "Gaia", a mother earth deity, with the phrase "I am", for the "interconnectivity of all things".[8]

In 2001, it merged with the Californian company Real Goods Solar.[9] In 2005, Gaiam acquired the media assets of GoodTimes Entertainment and Jetlag Productions.[10] In 2003, the company bought a 50.1% share in its UK distributor Leisure Systems International (LSI).[11] In 2007, Gaiam acquired both Lime.com[12] and Zaadz.com[13] for a greater community presence.

Recent history

In 2011, the company launched Gaiam TV, a streaming service for videos on yoga, meditation and fringe-science.[14] renamed to Gaia in 2015.[15]

In 2012, Gaiam acquired a DVD distributor from Universal Music Group Distribution, a subsidiary of Vivendi, merging it with its home entertainment division to form Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment.[16][17] In 2019, USA Today ranked Gaia, Inc as the world's fastest growing retailer,[18] spending up to 120% of revenue on advertising.[19]

In June 2019, Gaia started live streaming events from a new event center at its Louisville campus.[20][21][22] Events are live streamed in 185 countries with simultaneous translation,[23] and feature speakers such as Gregg Braden, Caroline Myss, Bruce Lipton, and Graham Hancock.[24]

Meditation intention experiment

From September 30 to October 5, 2017, Lynne McTaggart hosted an American Peace Intention Experiment, broadcast on Gaia TV.[25] The experiment involved large numbers of people participating in group meditation specifically directed at decreasing violent crime in Fairground, an area around the Natural Bridge Avenue in Northern St. Louis, Missouri, which was rated the most dangerous street in America.[26][27] For six months after the experiment. Jessica Utts, a University of California professor of statistics, analyzed four sets of crime data in St. Louis from September 2014 to March 2018 to determine what affect the Experiment had on crime.[27] From October 2017 to March 2018, property crime increased in Fairground, but violent crime decreased.[28] McTaggart reported that she did not know if the change in crime levels was caused by the Experiment or not, but that she continued to have hope.[27]

Programming

Gaia provides four primary channels - Seeking Truth, Transformation, Alternative Healing, and Yoga - to subscribers in 185 countries, streaming more than 8,000 films.[29] Gaia surpassed 500,000 paid subscribers on September 13, 2018.[30] Topic range from mainstream (mindfulness meditation, basic yoga) to highly fringe (psychics, aliens, illuminati, energy healing,):

  • Astrology, the pseudoscience of attempting to divine the future based on the movements of celestial bodies.[31]
  • Metaphysics, a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of reality and being, and includes ontology, cosmology, and epistemology.[32] Gaia offers fringe metaphysical content, with a focus on Western esotericism topics such as universal consciousness and energy.
  • Alchemy, an ancient practice of attempting to transmute matter and create elixiers of everlasting life.[37][38] It is promoted as a current pseudoscience via Gaia’s alchemy-focused programs hosted by Theresa Bullard.[39]
  • Mysticism, topics such as the classification of mystical experiences, and their nature in different religions and mystical traditions.[40] Mystics differ from culture to culture (e.g. shamans, theurgists, Daoists, Kabbalists, Western esotericians, Buddhists, or Christians).[41] Programs on Gaia address primarily New Age and eastern mysticism.
  • Kundalini, a primal force or energy thought, believed in by some Hindu practices,[42] and proposed to be controllable by yoga, meditation, or chanting.[43][44] Gaia has beginner and moderate Kundalini yoga videos.
  • Alternative medicine, non-scientific or counter-factual attempts to replicate the healing effects of medicine. A large portion of Gaia's content centers on energy healing, naturopathy, traditional chinese medicine, Ayurveda or time travel.
  • Nutrition, the diet and nutrients necessary to maintain life and health. Some of Gaia's content promotes balanced diets and some was created in a partnership with Mayo Clinic[45][46] (though this partnership has been controversial).[47] However it also promotes some unhealthy or fad practices such as detox, superfoods or Paleolithic diet.
  • Meditation, the mental practice of focus on a particular object, thought or activity to improve one's mind, shown to be valuable for relaxation and stress reduction.[48] Gaia offers different meditation series that range from established relaxation meditation to highly fringe attempts to control reality or cross into parallel universes.

Conspiracy theories

Topics covered by Gaia include the assassination of John F. Kennedy,[49][50] Operation Paperclip,[51][52] Project MKUltra,[53][54] and Big Pharma conspiracy theories.[55][56] Gaia’s programming also discusses topics such as research on psychedelics used as medicine, like that performed by the Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Unit[57]; and UFO research, including that by government programs, such as the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.[58]

Controversy

A show hosted by George Noory, covers several pseudoscientific topics such as psychic vampires, Hollow Earth theory, and mummified aliens.[59][60][61][62] This content has been criticized as misleading or falsified.[59][63] Criticism by a filmmaker formerly employed by Gaia, Patty Greer, ended with a public apology to Gaia by Greer after he accused them of "promoting Luciferianism and using directed-energy weapons against critics."[64][65][66][67]

gollark: I just have my alpine installation set to use edge (rolling release ish) and surprisingly it somehow works.
gollark: <@212426774586327040> Yes but it's poorly supported.
gollark: It's missing the systemd madness at least.
gollark: I use alpine. It's very small. Not sure about modular.
gollark: Is ZFS useful even if you don't have multiple drives?

References
  1. Miller, Ben (11 May 2016). "Gaiam metamorphosis: Will sell its yoga brand and also change its name". Denver Business Journal. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  2. Gaia Press Release titled 'Gaia Reports Third Quarter 2018 Results' dated November 5, 2018.
  3. "Documentaries of Gaia.com". gaia.com. Archived from the original on 2019-01-13. Retrieved 2019-01-13.
  4. Murphy, Duane Paul (2018-09-25). "The Gaia Deception: Digital New Age Nonsense". TheHumanist.com. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  5. "Topics of Gaia.com". Gaia. Archived from the original on 2019-01-10.
  6. 'Gaiam Third Child of Entrepreneur Rysavy,' Boulder County Business Report, November 1, 1998, p. 1.
  7. Ray, P. H. (2001). The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World. New York: Broadway
  8. "Our Name". Gaiam. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  9. 'Gaiam, Real Goods to Merge,' Denver Post, October 17, 2000, p. C2.
  10. Gaiam closes GoodTimes Entertainment Deal at $35M" Archived 2013-12-14 at the Wayback Machine. Denver Business Journal. 9-14-2005. Retrieved 12-20-2012.
  11. Gaiam, Inc. (2003). 10-K Annual Report 2003. Retrieved December 20, 2012 from Gaiam Corporate Website Archived June 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Gaiam, Zaadz, LIME Media & Conscious Enlightenment Create Unified Source for LOHAS". Bloomberg. 6-6-2007.
  13. Zaadz: Green Living Social Network Acquired" Archived 2013-01-26 at the Wayback Machine. Mashable. 6-6-2007. Retrieved 12-20-2012
  14. Gaiam, Inc (2011). 10-K Annual Report 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2012 from Gaiam Corporate Website. Archived February 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  15. "Gaiam TV Is Now Gaia." Retrieved 24 November , 2015, from Gaia corporate website. Archived 2015-11-25 at the Wayback Machine
  16. Gaiam Completes Acquisition of Vivendi Entertainment Creating Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment, the Nation’s Largest Independent Content Distributor - MarketWatch Archived 2012-05-05 at the Wayback Machine
  17. "Gaiam Acquires Vivendi Entertainment: Deal creates major indie distrib of nontheatrical content" Archived 2012-06-29 at the Wayback Machine. Variety Magazine. 4-3-2012. Retrieved 12-20-2012
  18. "Among the world's 20 fastest growing retailers, Amazon just ranks at No. 4". USA Today. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  19. Inc, Gaia (2020-02-24). "Gaia Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Results". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
  20. "Gaia to launch live streaming from Louisville campus". Boulder Daily Camera. 2019-04-27. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  21. "Gaia to launch live streaming from Louisville campus". Boulder Daily Camera. 2019-04-27. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  22. "Gaia Widens Loss In Q3 | SGB Media Online". sgbonline.com. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  23. "Louisville's Gaia grows revenue, aims for 1M subscribers by 2019". Longmont Times-Call. 2018-05-08. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  24. "Louisville's Gaia grows revenue, aims for 1M subscribers by 2019". Longmont Times-Call. 2018-05-08. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  25. "American Peace Intention Experiment". ggsc.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  26. "Peace Intention Experiment". noosphere.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  27. "The results of the American Peace Intention Experiment - Lynne McTaggart". Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  28. "SLMPD Crime Statistics". www.slmpd.org. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  29. Pampuro, Amanda (2018-08-21). "Gaia Hits Filmmaker Patty Greer With an Old-School Weapon: a Lawsuit". Westword. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  30. "Gaia Widens Loss In Q3 | SGB Media Online". sgbonline.com. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  31. Zarka, Philippe (2009). "Astronomy and astrology". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. 5 (S260): 420–425. doi:10.1017/S1743921311002602. ISSN 1743-9221.
  32. "Definition of METAPHYSICS". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  33. Whipps, Heather; Earth, Elizabeth Peterson-Live Science 2016-10-27T13:33:00Z Planet. "The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth". livescience.com. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  34. Change, Educate Inspire (2015-06-27). "25 Archaeological Controversies That Have Scholars Divided". Educate Inspire Change. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  35. Curry, Andrew. "Gobekli Tepe: The World's First Temple?". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  36. "Skull Cult at Göbekli Tepe - Archaeology Magazine". www.archaeology.org. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  37. "What is alchemy?". www.rsc.org. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  38. Grafton, Professor of History Anthony; Newman, William R.; Grafton, Anthony; Buchwald, Jed Z. (2001). Secrets of Nature: Astrology and Alchemy in Early Modern Europe. MIT Press. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-262-14075-1.
  39. "Alchemy for Soul Ascension with Theresa Bullard". Regina Meredith. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  40. Gellman, Jerome (2019), "Mysticism", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2019 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2019-11-22
  41. "Mysticism - Mystical states". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  42. "What is Kundalini? - Definition from Yogapedia". Yogapedia.com. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  43. Muktananda, Swami, 1908-1982. (2000). Play of consciousness = Chitshakti vilas : a spiritual autobiography. SYDA Foundation. (3rd ed.). South Fallsburg, NY: SYDA Fdn. ISBN 0-911307-81-8. OCLC 42296147.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  44. "I Tried Kundalini Yoga. Here's Everything You Need To Know". mindbodygreen. 2016-07-07. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  45. "Gaiam: Mayo Clinic Wellness Solutions for Insomnia on Apple TV". Apple TV. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  46. "Mayo Clinic Wellness Solutions for Menopause Season 1 Episode 1 Watch Online | The Full Episode". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  47. Li, Ben; Forbes, Thomas L.; Byrne, John (2018). "Integrative medicine or infiltrative pseudoscience?". The Surgeon. 16 (5): 271–277. doi:10.1016/j.surge.2017.12.002. PMID 29305045.
  48. "A beginner's guide to meditation". Mayo Clinic. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
  49. Gillon, Steven M. "Why the Public Stopped Believing the Government about JFK's Murder". HISTORY. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  50. "JFK assassination conspiracy theories: The grassy knoll, Umbrella Man, LBJ and Ted Cruz's dad". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  51. "Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program to Bring Nazi Scientists to America — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  52. Lewis, Danny. "Why the U.S. Government Brought Nazi Scientists to America After World War II". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  53. Editors, History com. "MK-Ultra". HISTORY. Retrieved 2019-09-19.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  54. "History's greatest conspiracy theories". The Telegraph. 2016-03-16. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  55. "Five more states sue OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma for opioid epidemic". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  56. Blaskiewicz, Robert (2013-12-01). "The Big Pharma conspiracy theory". Medical Writing. 22 (4): 259–261. doi:10.1179/2047480613Z.000000000142. ISSN 2047-4814.
  57. "Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research". Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  58. Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (2017-12-16). "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  59. "An ancient, mummified alien has been found, group claims". The Independent. 2017-06-26. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  60. "'Alien' mummies likely to be distorted, stolen Nazca bodies". NewsComAu. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  61. Heaney, Christopher. "The Racism Behind Alien Mummy Hoaxes". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  62. "George Noory's Online TV Show Launches December 14th" Archived 2014-02-03 at the Wayback Machine. All Access. 12-11-2012.
  63. "FACT CHECK: Did Researchers Find a Mummified, Three-Fingered Alien in Nazca, Peru?". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  64. Pampuro, Amanda (2018-08-21). "Gaia Hits Filmmaker Patty Greer With an Old-School Weapon: a Lawsuit". Westword. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  65. "UFO filmmaker who called former client 'Luciferian' sued for defamation". BusinessDen. 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  66. Pampuro, Amanda (2018-12-31). "Slander Suit Against Filmmaker Patty Greer Dismissed, Then Refiled". Westword. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  67. "CropCircleFilms.com Offers Patty Greer's Award Winning Crop Circle UFO Films". Crop Circle Films. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.